Transcription
How do you think of productivity? Do you think it's something tied to your worth, something that you need to be? Do you think it's a necessary thing? Not everyone is productive, and not everyone needs to lead a productive life. You clicked on this video because you are choosing to be a productive person, and I love that for you.
As someone who is a productive queen and naturally a very Type A person, I used to tie my productivity to my worth, and it took a lot of retraining to take that out of my mind, basically. And now I think of productivity in a much more motivating and healthier way.
And before we start, I want to share, because maybe I'm biased, but I think everyone should think of it this way. My idea of productivity, at least, is to be as efficient as possible so that you can maximize the time that you have for rest and for play while still reaching your goals. Productivity is not about doing more; it's about working smarter so that you can get more done and have more time for actual life.
So, this is the exact blueprint that I use to keep my life together, have everything hyper organized, and still have plenty of fun and rest. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm going to put the chapters here on the screen so you can skip to anywhere if you need to. Or if you're listening on the podcast, they'll be in the show notes.
Welcome, or welcome back, to The Creation of Her. We talk about all things from productivity, feminine energy, glow-ups, mindset, leveling up, and so much more. So, if that sounds like your vibe, I come out with episodes every single week. I'm going to give you a little second to follow or subscribe so you can stay on the positive side of the internet. I'll wait.
Okay, let's get into today's episode.
Number one, everybody should have some type of agenda or planner, obviously. Now, depending on what I'm feeling, what season of life I'm in, I will switch between physical and digital. But these days, since I traveled a lot and I kind of got used to it, I tend to go more towards digital.
However, both of them have to have these requirements: There needs to be a daily and weekly planner. There needs to be a monthly calendar, and there needs to be a habit tracker and a space where I can time block.
And the main tools that I use to plan are Notion, Google Calendar, the Notes app, sometimes the Reminders app, and physical planners. Honestly, whichever one speaks to you. Here and there, I'll also write like mental to-do lists on a piece of paper, and then I'll organize that later on. But those are all the tools that I use.
If you're interested, I actually have an entire Notion that is my life planner, and it's available for download. It's in my Stan Store, which is in the link of the bio of all my socials, but it's also in the description box or the show notes. And that literally has every single thing that I will talk about here, plus more. It is just a 101 life planner. And if you want to see what it looks like inside, I also did an entire video that is a Notion walkthrough. So, you can check that out too.
Just a little hack that might resonate with you: I used to be somebody who would have a super overflowing to-do list with no rhyme or reason, and it would really cause me a lot of stress and keep me unproductive. The more you put on that to-do list, the more you put on your plate, the less productive you'll actually be, and you need to get that in your head now.
So, sometimes if I ever catch myself going back into that loop, I will switch from my digital to physical for a bit because you can only write so much on a page, and that'll sometimes help me like not overload myself. But I have plenty of other tools that we'll get into.
Speaking of, that moves me on to chapter two, which is the master to-do list. On my Notes app, I have a master to-do list, which is basically, imagine if you took all the mumbo jumbo in your brain, all the things that you have to do, whether it's today, this week, this month, later in a year, whatever. You organize it into this master to-do list. I call it my fluff list.
So, you basically just brain dump all of these things, whether it's do your laundry or whether it's apply for masters in six months. And basically, you're going to organize that into important time-sensitive fluff (which is like it's still fluff, but it's still kind of time-sensitive, so you want to revisit it soon), then just general fluff. And then I have a section that's like "nice to do," and another section that says "to do in the future."
This way, you always have somewhere to put that fluff that's in your brain in a stress-free way, but you're also organizing your priorities, and you're not overloading yourself. And this way, you're separating your daily to-dos versus your long-term goals and just things that are kind of nice to do. And like if you get to them, then you get to them. Again, we're avoiding overplanning here, which is a productivity killer, and just overall decluttering your brain so you can have less stress in your life. And the less stressed you are, the easier it is to be productive.
Chapter three, which is a new adoption for me, which is one of the reasons that I have maximized my productivity this past year, is having priorities that move you forward and knowing how to set priorities. So, on a normal day, I will set three priorities. When I journal in the morning, I will write them down every single day. What are my top three priorities? Like if nothing could get done but only these three things, what are those things?
And these have to be things that are either attached to your short or long-term goals or the things that really move the needle, make you the most money, etc. Set your three priorities every day so that you know what actually matters and that you can focus on those things first before you go on to the secondary tasks.
I will always set my three priorities, and this is for normal days, but on a higher energy day, I will use the Carnegie method, which is basically where you number one through six your most important tasks. You rank them by importance. You cannot move on to the next task after the previous one is done, and whatever doesn't get done gets moved on to tomorrow. I will kind of just switch between those. But the first three of the six tasks that are in the Carnegie method are my three priorities anyways, so it works out.
And then if I have a low energy day, like I'm in my luteal phase, I'm in my cycle, whatever, I will just have one top priority. But always, every day, priorities are set. That's for sure. And the number of priorities will usually just be on my energy.
Which brings me to learning how to plan around your daily energy. Number one, I want you to ask yourself, and I want you to start paying attention and start studying when you have the most mental and when you have the most physical energy, because I don't know about you, but I don't always have the same mental and physical energy time blocks, if that makes sense.
So, I used to work out in the morning, and that worked great for me. That was when I was in school and I had classes later, but now my schedule kind of changed, and I actually have way more mental energy in the morning. So, I will get up and start working away. But since I tend to eat a lot later now because I kind of make my own schedule, so I just wait till I'm hungry, I will have more physical energy in the afternoon. Like, I will be tired of working. So, I will probably eat my last meal, let's say around 5 or something. I get this burst of energy for my meal. I'll go to the gym, do my night routine, go to sleep. I have found that that's working for me great in this season of my life.
So, I will schedule my workout and me time in the afternoon, and I will take advantage of the morning because that's when I have the most mental productivity. When do you have the most mental energy, and when do you have the most physical energy? You're going to want to plan your day around that so you can maximize your productivity and avoid friction in your body, basically.
Also, do you have a morning routine, and is it one that actually sets you up for success for the day and one that you like? Your morning routine sets the tone because have you ever heard people saying like, "Oh, you should eat protein in the morning or eat something savory in the morning because the first thing that you eat is going to be what you're craving kind of the rest of the day"? Have you ever noticed when you eat pancakes for breakfast versus eggs or something that you tend to crave more sweet throughout the day? The same kind of goes for your morning. Whatever you feed your brain first is going to be what you're kind of craving throughout the day.
So, if your morning routine—so I'm not saying have a 500-step morning routine, that is obviously not going to help you be more productive—just those first 15 minutes, those first 20 minutes, what you're doing matters for your productivity. So, for example, I'm telling you how I plan my life, right? So, most mornings, I will usually start either by walking or by meditating. Definitely not scrolling, unless I'm on vacation and I don't even like care. But you will not see me scrolling.
When I walk first thing in the morning, I get so many more steps throughout the day because I'm setting the tone. When I meditate first thing, I learn to take more breaks throughout the day, and I'm just a bit calmer. When I scroll on my phone first thing, forget it. I know it's going to be so much harder to fight that procrastination, to fight that doom scrolling. So, take care of your morning routine. Don't stress out about it. I just want you to focus on what are the first things that I'm doing within that first 15 to 20 minutes of my day, because that's going to set the tone for your productivity.
And also note what your procrastination triggers are or what your triggers for a lack of productivity are. Personally for me, my sleep is everything. If I don't sleep, I know I'm going to be a lot less productive. So, I'm someone who just takes really good care of her sleep 'cause I value being productive and getting things done so I have more time for life.
Scrolling first thing in the morning or just doom scrolling in general is such a procrastination trigger for me that I literally got something called a Brick. Actually, not sponsored, but Brick kindly sent me a Brick, which is basically like this little physical box, and you kind of have to tap your phone like Apple Pay on it, and it'll block whatever socials you put in the settings. And in order to unblock your socials, you have to like tap it Apple Pay way again, if that makes sense. Before I had that, and I still use this, is the app Opal. And I have a timer on there so it can block my screen time from like the morning until 9:00 p.m.
So, I know my triggers, right? Doom scrolling is a huge one for me. I don't do it anymore because I have systems in place. I leave doom scrolling for the weekend when I want to, if I want to. Know your triggers and know where you can put friction against your triggers.
Another game changer for my productivity is having daily themes. So, for example, on some days I will have filming days. I know that usually on Mondays I'm filming this podcast. Then Tuesdays are almost always admin days where I just do a lot of like computer work, things that I need to get done. Wednesdays are always my special days. It's the days where I wash my hair, I'll do an everything shower, I will go to the gym with my mom, and I—this is so random, but like we'll eat liver on Wednesdays. Like I just associate Wednesdays with eating liver. Okay, now you know way too much about my Wednesdays, but I associate different things with different days.
And also in life, we're not necessarily doing the same thing or need to do the same thing every day. Maybe you have one day for chores, one day for date night, or one day to see your best friend. Think about your life. Think about all the different things that go on in your life, and wherever you need to, assign different themes for different days. For example, I'm a content creator. So, a lot of what I do is either filming or editing/admin. So, I usually do one day filming, one day admin, one day filming, one day admin, and it goes on. And then Sundays is rest and reflect.
Another tip is honestly just to anchor your routines. So, like I kind of mentioned before, doing similar things around the same time is going to give you—leave you—a lot more energy for productivity because you're not thinking about when you're going to do something. For example, waking up at the same time every day, starting your night routine at the same time every day, going to sleep at the same time every day, or like more or less, right? Meal times pretty much around the same time, going to the gym around the same time. Getting your body on a routine that works for you, and it might take some trial and error, is going to help you be so much more productive.
Speaking of daily themes, I highly recommend picking one day of the week to be your plan and reset reflection day. For me, that's usually Sundays; sometimes it's Saturdays, depends what I'm doing. But on Sundays, I have a reflection ritual where I take any piece of paper, my notebook, whatever. And I will ask myself, "What did not work this week?" and "What did work this week?" and I will just brain dump it out. And based on what I wrote down, I will tweak like either it's my routines or just do things differently the week coming. And that is basically how I have found my perfect routines. And my routines do still change from time to time based on what's working or not in whatever particular season of my life.
After I reflect, I will go on to plan my entire week. And how that goes is first I will go into my monthly calendar and my Google Calendar, and I will jot down any like preset appointments or meetings that I have, flights, etc. Then I will go into my weekly planner where I had written things for the week. But since I do this on a Sunday, I'll take whatever I need for Monday and put it into my daily planner. I take my to-dos for Monday plus my daily theme for Monday, whatever it is, I organize it into a to-do list by setting my three priorities, making sure those are higher up on my time blocking thing, and from there, basically, I will time block.
So, let's get into my favorite chapter, which is time blocking. And it is literally a life-changing thing if you don't do it already. So, basically what time blocking is, is you are translating your priorities, your daily theme, and whatever other to-dos and festivities and whatever you have into time slots.
And this is so revolutionary because a lot of us can kill our productivity, like I said a thousand times, by overplanning. When you can split your things up into the hours of the day, not only are you going to be more productive because you're going to be mindful of the time, but you're going to avoid overplanning because if you have way too much on your to-do list, you're going to realize that you actually don't have enough time in the day for all these things you want to do.
And just a tip, when time blocking, always overestimate at least a little bit because nothing is worse than underestimating your time and being way too overwhelmed and kind of just freezing and not doing anything. And then it's so rewarding when you have like time left over because you finish a task quicker than you thought you would.
And also, please don't be a robot. Like, plan in time for rest. Leave blank spots for spontaneity. It's just a tool. Don't get too obsessed because I've been there, too.
And now, just some extra little productivity boosters. The Brick thing and the Opal app, like just ways to block out your screen time, are so helpful because the doom scrolling is what's sabotaging you.
Another hack that I use a lot is "only this after this." So, what that means, like sometimes I will give myself a reward. For example, I will only eat my dinner after I finish my work for the day. Or if it's a day where I'm having coffee, matcha, whatever, I will only have coffee after I finish my meditation. That way, things are moving, and I'm not just rotting around 'cuz I have a little like carrot dangling over my head.
Another one is habit stacking is great for productivity. I am a step queen. I love getting in my steps, but I also work from home. By habit stack, I will dup the habit of checking my emails while I'm walking on the treadmill at my desk. Or something I used to do a lot was reading in the sauna or listening to my audiobook during my outdoor walks.
And now when you get to final boss productivity mode, then we get into other things like clearing out your camera roll every other day, which is a habit that I've just gotten into. Labeling your emails, labeling your files so you can prevent overwhelm.
And you know what? Another huge productivity tip is keeping your space clean. 'Cuz if your space is messy, your mind is going to feel messy, and things are just going to feel all over the place and disorganized. I promise you, being clean is not that hard. I'm going to give you two things that will help you be clean forever.
One, make your bed as often as you can, even if it's like messily making it. I don't make it perfect every day, but I will not leave it looking like a mess 'cuz it makes everything look bad. And number two, make sure every single thing, every single item, every single object in your home has a home. Everything needs a home. Don't have homeless objects, okay? That is disrespectful to the things in your house and the things you own. Everything has a home. That's it. And put it back where it belongs.
And if you're someone who tends to pile things up, like random objects—for me, example me—something I used to do was put all the products I needed to film with like at the corner of my room. Instead of just having all the products there, put a basket there and put that pile in the basket.
Another tip: when I used to watch videos like this, I would get super, super motivated and would want to implement everything right now, starting today, tomorrow, but honestly, it's not going to help your productivity that much. If you're new to this game, just start implementing little by little. Have like the small productivity tweaks that can build momentum over time. You will be much better off that way. Trust me.
And obviously, because honesty is the best policy. Now, in this past year, since I have my own business, I hired an assistant, and he helps me a lot, especially with planning my life and with organization. Even though what he was doing now are all the things I would do for myself before. He will, for example, like put my meetings and stuff and my appointments into my Google Calendar for me. And then he will usually tell me the day before what I have due for the next day and what meetings I have.
But again, these were things I was doing for myself before, which you can do for yourself. But when you get to that point, when you have the resources, when you have the need for it, I definitely, definitely recommend outsourcing, especially if you have a business, because it'll save a lot of time on your hands and make your life even more organized and help you be even more productive because you can have time for what really matters and the things that only you can do.
Once you taste how good it feels to be productive and to be organized, it's addictive, and it's so worth it. I hope this video helped you or inspired you. If you think that someone you know would like it, then definitely share. I come out with episodes every single week. If you liked this episode, obviously like. Make sure to follow and subscribe so you can hear more from me.
I'm also very active on Instagram and TikTok. All my socials are linked below. It's @theMiaGabriella. I love when you guys talk to me, so please DM me, ask me questions, ask me for advice. Seriously, it makes my day! But anyways, I'll talk to you guys next week. Bye.